National Waste Removal Firm Admits to ADA Violation

November 29, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - IESI LA Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IESI Corpora­tion, a national waste removal firm, will pay $95,000 to settle a disability discrimination suit filed in June 2009 by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

After contending for five years that former truck driver Ronald Harper did not have a disability and that he was not fired because of a disability, IESI admitted shortly before the scheduled trial date that Harper does have a disability within the meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), that he was at all relevant times qualified to do his job, and that IESI did dismiss him because of his disability and in violation of federal law. IESI further conceded that the supervisor who fired Harper had failed to engage in the interactive process regarding reasonable accommodation required by federal law, according to an EEOC news release.

The EEOC’s suit says that approximately four hours after Harper told his new supervisor that he is dyslexic, the supervisor fired Harper, stating that he did not want to take the chance of Harper’s dyslexia causing him to see things “swirly” and have an accident.

Under the court-ordered consent decree settling the suit, the company will provide annual ADA training to all human resources personnel and managers of IESI and its subsidiaries nationwide. IESI will report to the EEOC for two and a half years on all complaints of disability discrimination and all requests for reasonable accommodations of a disability.